Barrel Length for .260 or 6.5 creedmoor?

I have been thinking about picking up a new whitetail hunting rifle in either a 260 or 6.5 creedmoor. Most of my shots will be in the 200yds or less range, but I want to reserve the right to take some longer pokes. I have been looking at the browning a-bolt in a 6.5 creed with the factory 22" barrel and a Savage weather warrior in a 6.5 or 260 with the factory 22" barrel. I understand that a 26" barrel would be optimum for these calibers, but the factories only offer 22". Is the reduction in speed something to worry about with these calibers? I plan to use either a 125gr partition or 130gr accubond. Anyone with experience with these guns?

I have experience with the 260 Rem and none with the 6.5 creedmoor. I have loaded my Rem Model Seven with the factory 20 inch barrel and with a 22 inch Hart barrel. Also, I load for a friends Savage 260 with a 24 inch barrel.

If your shots are 500yds. or less I don't think that a 22 inch barrel would be a great handicap, since I have been able to reach over 2900 ft/sec with a 130 Accubond bullet using RL-19 powder. I found that there was quite a bit of difference between the velocity of my 20 inch and the 22 inch(about 150 ft/sec). I have not done enough checking the velocity of the 24 inch to give you any numbers, but I don't think there is as much difference when you go to 24 inches.

I know a couple people that still reference this thread, and I had some empirical data I thought might help others trying to figure this out. Essentially one of my closest friends has two Surgeon rifles chambered in 6.5 Creedmoor, and he has tried out a 26" barrel as well as a 22" barrel (both with the same heavy MTU contour and rifle setup). He has fired both guns 1,000+ rounds and shot over his Oehler 35P chronograph regularly. It is really a pretty great experiment, and I thought others might like to know what we found.

26" Barrel: 2860 fps - This is what he was getting after 1,200 rounds (no suppressor)

22" Barrel: 2805 fps - This is what he was getting after 800 rounds (no suppressor)

22" Barrel w/ Suppressor: 2833 fps - This is what the was getting after adding a 30P-1 suppressor made by Thunder Beast Arms.

Overall he only lost 55 fps after cutting off 4" of barrel, and after adding a suppressor it cut that to only 27 fps. That is only 2/10 of a mil (2 clicks) at 1,000 yards. He couldn't be more happy with that trade. He shoots that 22" 6.5 Creedmoor rifle out to 1,200 yards regularly without any issues. Beyond that he breaks out his Sako TRG-42 in 338 Lapua ... but who wouldn't?

I wrote a blog post with more complete details. If anyone is interested, you can check it out here: